Elon Musk called Bitcoin “bs” in a series of bizarre weekend tweets that also rocketed the price of a rival cryptocurrency.
The second richest man in the world appeared to question the legitimacy of all cryptocurrencies during an early morning rant before later toying with the idea of turning the money on Tesla’s balance sheet into digital money, which is on a tear.
“Bitcoin is almost as good as fiat money,” He wrote at 4:24 a.m. New York time, referring to a term for government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical product such as gold.
The US dollar and other major currencies around the world are considered fiat currencies. Musk has previously objected to governments printing large amounts of money – he said in May that “makes massive issuance of currency by the government’s central banks Bitcoin Internet [ghost] money looks solid by comparison. “
At the same time, Musk generated some buzz around Dogecoin, which is named after a famous internet meme featuring a shiba inu dog. The alternative cryptocurrency was launched in 2013 and has a market value of approximately $ 622 million, a fraction of Bitcoin’s $ 423 billion.
“One word: doge,” Musk tweeted. He also changed his bio on the site to say “Former CEO of Dogecoin.”
According to news site Coindesk, Dogecoin’s price has risen by a whopping 20 percent since early July to its highest price since Musk’s tweet. The coins traded about 9 percent on Monday at 2:01 p.m., but were still worth less than a cent at about $ 0.0049.
A few hours later, Tesla’s CEO pitched the idea of converting the money on Tesla’s balance sheet into cryptocurrency in an exchange with Michael Saylor, a major Bitcoin financier who is also the CEO of business intelligence firm MicroStrategy.
Saylor – whose company has bought more than $ 1 billion worth of Bitcoin this year – tweeted that Musk should “do your shareholders a $ 100 billion favor” and convert Tesla’s balance sheet from dollars to digital currency.
“Other companies on the S&P 500 would follow your lead and over time this would turn into a $ 1 trillion favor,” Saylor wrote Sunday in response to a even risky Musk suggested Bitcoin was a female seductress trying to seduce chaste men.
That prompted Musk to ask, “Are such large transactions possible at all?” Saylor replied, but Musk did not inquire further on Twitter.
Musk’s tweet storm comes amid a dizzying rally for Bitcoin that first pushed it above $ 20,000 last week.
The tech billionaire’s cryptic tweets make it difficult to set out his true views on cryptocurrency, but one offers a hint. When a follower speculated that the price of Bitcoin will crash over the next five years but also hit $ 50,000, Musk replied, “Sounds good.”
“Bitcoin is my safe word,” he joked in the early morning rant before he continued about 20 minutes later by adding, “Just kidding, who actually needs a safe word !?”